


just your sounds, and mine

by ried (riiiied)



Category: Paradox Live (Albums)
Genre: 3 Sentence Fiction, M/M, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:34:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28978218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riiiied/pseuds/ried
Summary: Kanata, Nayuta, and all the songs, sounds, and noises around them.(3 sentence fics written for prompts from theWrite Short and SweetJanuary challenge.)
Relationships: Yatonokami Kanata/Yatonokami Nayuta
Kudos: 4
Collections: Write short and sweet





	just your sounds, and mine

**Author's Note:**

> AKA Overabuse of the Em Dash: The Fic. And also me deliberately ignoring the more depressing speculations coming out of the drama CD previews for the TCW vs cozmez stage battle.

_Band_

It was never a question that Nayuta would be the only option for Kanata to team up with, but it was a question at one point whether he was going to team up with anyone at all.

Kanata made a point of not involving Nayuta with work whenever possible, but performing wasn’t just work - his songs, his lyrics were more an extension of himself rather than just a slap-dash jumble of words and tones glued together for money.

Something that important was worth sharing with the only family he had, and he had no doubt Nayuta would complete him and his performances like no one else could.

* * *

_Love song_

Not even the massive prize money of the contest could make Kanata write a love song for the two of them to perform – who would they even write it for, when no one had ever bothered loving them growing up?

Nayuta was the only person he trusted to actually care about him, and in return was the only person he could say that he loved – but they had sung about that love already, and as much as he wanted to deride the current theme he wasn’t foolish enough to throw the match by re-using the same concept.

And so, words dripping with venom flowed on the scrap paper in front of him, denying the whole world outside the love that it never gave them in the first place.

* * *

_Karaoke_

For all the frivolous purchases Nayuta would sometimes make whenever Kanata brought back some extra money, spending it on karaoke never passed through his mind - why waste the money on just going to sing in some dimly lit cramped room?

At least performing on the underground stages actually made them money instead, but Nayuta would concede that there was a difference between performing for an audience and just singing your lungs out without having to worry whether you have a crowd to please or not.

Which is why, on some nights, he’d play some old recordings and nudge Kanata’s shoulder, who might raise an eyebrow at him sometimes but would inevitable join in Nayuta in belting it out to familiar tunes they had listened to together in their childhood, momentarily untroubled by any worries.

* * *

_Lullaby_

Their mother never sang lullabies for them – if she even bothered addressing them before she went out for her work each night, it would be to scream at them to stay put.

Instead, when they would curl up next to each other on the thin mattress, Kanata would softly hum whatever tunes came up to his mind, stroking Nayuta’s hair until his breathing would settle into a calmer rhythm.

Even if the whole world would never let them take a break, he could at least give his brother this chance to rest easy each night.

* * *

_Song contest_

There was a part of Kanata that questioned why they of all people received an invitation to the stage battles – why them, a couple of underground performers from the slums, when such a legendary club could invite just anyone they wanted?

But more than that, he had no doubt of his own abilities, especially with Nayuta beside him – and if anyone else doubted that they would be able to meet the expectations of those “high-class” snobs, all they needed to do was prove them wrong.

And so he set off to work on their opening show piece, declaring their absolute intent to rise all the way from the lowest depths to unprecedented heights.

* * *

_Opera_

Opera was not Nayuta’s thing, to say the least – he saw bits of one once when Kanata worked backstage on a production for extra money and snuck him in, only to sneak back out after a few minutes, making a note to himself never to actually spend ridiculous amounts of money just to sit for hours while some loons in stuffy costumes wail on the top of their lungs.

Still, it made him wonder what kinds of performances they could attend if they had the money – for all that he pretended otherwise, Kanata definitely enjoyed those videos of big music festivals beyond “just looking for inspiration”, and he’d love to be able to attend one together.

But for now, just watching Kanata – practicing on his own, humming away when he thought nobody was listening, up on an underground stage next to Nayuta – was enough for Nayuta, and even if they get to see more performances, he was sure nothing would replace just being able to see Kanata performing this up close.

* * *

_Songwriter_

While Kanata would say that all their lyrics were a team effort, the main idea for all of them more often than not came from Kanata first, and Nayuta would add to them afterwards.

Sometimes, Nayuta wondered if it wouldn’t be better for Kanata to try writing lyrics for other people – he was definitely skilled at it, and wasn’t he limiting himself by only writing for the two of them?

And yet, each time Kanata offered Nayuta a new snippet while excitedly telling him how they should use it for their next song, it would feel as if each and every single word was written just for him, and Nayuta would wish to hoard all these words to himself just for a bit longer.

* * *

_Radio_

The cheap radio they had at home was one of the few sources of entertainment they had growing up.

It took a lot of tuning and turning the antenna around for the reception to be anything approaching acceptable, but once they got it to work, a new world of sound was open for them, taking them away from the tedious bustle of the slums.

Even through the static noises, all their attention was drawn to the beats flowing out of its aged speakers, ideas of their own tunes starting to form on the back of their minds.

* * *

_Piano_

Kanata had no interest in “proper” pianos – who needed those overpriced rich brat toys when the used keyboard he found at the dumps managed to produce the same sounds just fine?

Nayuta seemed to agree, with the way he had played on the worn keys without complaints, but Kanata knew how much he liked to spend on more expensive things sometimes, and tapping on the rotted wood of the thrown-away piano in the middle of the dumping grounds, for a moment the image of a well-dressed Nayuta in front of a new, pristine piano.

One day, he would earn enough so that he could give Nayuta whatever he wanted.

* * *

_Dance_

In the dead of the night, under the sheets of their narrow bed, they would have their own dance, set only to each other’s ragged breathing.

Others would turn their noses at how wrong it was, but why care about the opinion of those who never even spared a care for them before?

And when their every move felt just as right as each of their carefully choreographed performances, what right did the rest of the world have to say how wrong they were?

* * *

_Sound of silence_

Silence was not exactly in surplus around the slums – the rails rattled not only the air but also the thin walls on regular intervals during the day, and the bustle of fighting and workers of the night took over once the sun had long set.

As much as he tried to hide it, the noise would sometimes bother Nayuta at night, and once, Kanata even actually tried covering his ears for him until he fell asleep.

But he refused it and instead pushed his face right up against Kanata’s chest, for with the sound of his brother’s beating heart this up close, he could finally be deaf to the world, with solely the sound of the life of the only one who mattered to him filling his ears.

* * *

_Soothing music_

Usually, their songs would be the polar opposite of soothing, to go with their equally sharp lyrics, and Kanata was in no rush to change that about their music

But the theme they were given this time, “family” – this would be a song about the two of them, a song about what Nayuta meant to him and vice versa, a song from him to Nayuta and from Nayuta to him, and he couldn’t direct the same amount of contempt he gave the world to Nayuta.

He wasn’t sure he quite nailed the atmosphere he was going for, but within moments of the tunes flowing through the earphones they shared, Nayuta rested his head on Kanata’s shoulder with a soft smile, and Kanata hoped it could come even the slightest bit close to how much Nayuta's welcoming smile s him at the end of every exhausting day.

* * *

_Melody_

Nayuta loved every sound that could come out of Kanata’s mouth.

His gentle morning greetings, his powerful vocal performances, his scolding that nonetheless belied an underlying gentleness, his muffled moans under the battered thin sheets – to Nayuta, not even the most melodious sounds anyone else could think up would even come close to Kanata’s voice.

As Kanata hummed his idea for some melodies for their next piece, he almost wished that this voice would only be for him – but something so beautiful didn’t deserve to be hidden, and besides, there were enough of Kanata’s other voices that no one else ever got to hear.

* * *

_Flute_

The previously discarded flute had been thoroughly cleaned and looked, if not new, at least more presentable than it was when Kanata found it, but he still had his doubts as Nayuta brought it up to his lips.

Sure enough, all that came out were dissonant woodwind sounds even as Nayuta’s fingers erratically opened and closed all the different holes, and Kanata couldn’t help but let out a chuckle, to Nayuta’s pouting chagrin.

Even so, in the end, neither of them were really in any hurry to figure out how to properly play the thing – their also second-hand synth could give them whatever sound they want, and they had always been good in finding other things to make noise and music with, growing up with as little as they had.

* * *

_Rock ’n’ roll_

While they had no plans to wildly change their artistic direction, they still listened to other genres of music on the radio sometimes – something especially Nayuta did a lot while waiting for Kanata to come home.

Once, they stopped by a rock ‘n’ roll station as they randomly turned their radio tuner, upon which Nayuta mimed an overwrought saxophone performance, which Kanata initially just chuckled at before he joined in with his own exaggerated movements, to raucous laughter from the both of them once the song concluded.

Even though their impromptu mock session was nothing more than play, Nayuta felt that if it were with Kanata, he would be able to perform just about anything.

* * *

_Singer_

In a world that had never been generous about giving them chances, music was one of the few things that was free to them, that freed them.

For once, the people that never cared about their cries before would be fixated to their figures on stage, finally lending their ears to their voice – even if it often seemed that they failed the extent of the sharp words .

Perhaps it simply flew over their heads, or they were just humouring a couple of so-called street rats they never thought would live up to their big words, but that wouldn't change their plans; all they needed to do was to continue singing their declarations, until the day when they would make it all a reality.


End file.
